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A class action by passengers of Delta Air Lines regarding cancelled and delayed flights as a result of last year’s CrowdStrike outage will go ahead as ruled by a US federal judge.
Last year, CrowdStrike caused a global outage on roughly 8.5 million Windows devices worldwide when it pushed a flawed update. This caused them to blue screen and brick, halting services across the globe, including airlines.
CrowdStrike took responsibility for the incident, and airlines largely recovered quickly thanks to the cyber security firm’s quick action. However, Delta Air Lines suffered longer delays as its systems required a manual fix per device, which required much more time and manpower.
Delta Air Lines then filed a lawsuit against CrowdStrike for US$500 million, to which CrowdStrike responded with a lawsuit of its own, claiming that the slow recovery was the fault of Delta Air Lines’ systems.
“Delta’s claims are based on disproven misinformation, demonstrate a lack of understanding of how modern cyber security works, and reflect a desperate attempt to shift blame for its slow recovery away from its failure to modernise its antiquated IT infrastructure.”
Now, US District Judge Mark Cohen has said that a lawsuit filed by Delta Air Lines customers who were denied full refunds for their cancelled and delayed flights will proceed.
Delta Air Lines had previously sought the claims to be dismissed, aside from one by an international traveller under the Montreal Convention.
Judge Cohen said that five of the nine plaintiffs may pursue breach of contract claims, and a different group were able to pursue claims under the Montreal Convention.
“This ruling is a major step forward for Delta passengers seeking accountability,” said one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, Joseph Sauder.
The remaining four plaintiffs had their claims dismissed, with Judge Cohen saying they were dealt with by federal legislation.
John Brennan, one of the plaintiffs whose claim was dismissed, said he was offered only $219.45 in compensation, despite he and his wife missing a $10,000 anniversary cruise as a result of being stranded.
Delta attempted to dismiss the case under the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which removed government control over airline fares, market entry and routes. Cohen ruled in favour of the dismissal.
The plaintiffs also alleged that CrowdStrike reached out to Delta offering assistance in dealing with the outage “within hours of the incident” and that even CEO George Kurtz reached out to Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian to provide assistance, but that Delta declined or did not respond.
Delta Air Lines said the outage cost it US$550 million in revenue and other costs, but that it saved US$50 million in fuel.
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